Tumblr Shorts
by Antigone2
Summary: Various shorts based on requests and games on Tumblr. (The best ones - imo- go here). Please come visit me there if you want! I'm 'idesofnovember' and I love asks/requests etc.
1. Chapter 1

So I was having some writer's block. Awesome Kyralih gave me some prompts. Here's what came out of it.

 _pre-Timewalker!Chibi-Usa is jealous, Serenity steps in to try to help her see the light_

* * *

The thread started small, peeking out from the hem of her icy pink dress, but by the time the princess was through with it, it was as long as her arm and pulling longer still. Strong and silky like a strand of her own glossy pink hair, Small Lady dispassionately tugged as the seam feel open from the frothy skirt and the thread came free and wound completely around her young hand, leaving an open tear in her skirt as wide as her knee.

"Oops," she mumbled sarcastically, chewing a lip. The children sang from the courtyard below the open-air hall and the adults nearby laughed as they shared a story from earlier in the day.

"Are you hoping to add to your list of today's offensives?" The unexpected lilt of the voice made the princess jump to her feet, eyes wide and hands suddenly splayed at her sides.

"M-mother!" she curtsied and didn't lift her face from the shining white marble of the crystal hallway, "I was expecting father to come scold me for earlier-"

Neo-Queen Serenity shrugged slightly, titled her head and sat down on the edge of the bench the princess had just vacated. She indicated her daughter should join her.

Small Lady felt more nervous now than before – pushing that snobby ambassador's kid into the mud was definitely a punishable offense, but sending her _mother_ to talk to her. This was more serious than she thought.

"So," the elder Serenity said conversationally, as she smoothed her skirt and looked up over the castle to the purpling sky, "why, exactly, did you act so unlady-like today?"

Small Lady wrinkled her nose and sighed. If she were sitting here with her dad, she knew just what she'd say – that the stupid girl had deserved it for being so worried about how she looked all the time, that the other kids were laughing and leaving Small Lady out of their play, that she was sick and tired of being _special_ of being _different_ and that being called a _freak_ was the straw that broke the camel's back. She knew he'd scold her and send her to her room for the rest of the night and everything would be fine tomorrow.

But with her mother.

Small Lady just had no idea.

"I- I asked to join their stupid four-square game."

"I see."

"And she said no."

"Ah."

"Everyone likes her," Small Lady complained, "and I don't know how she does it." Her eyes narrowed and filled with unshed tears. "And she doesn't seem to care much about my feelings."

"That doesn't sound very fair."

"It—isn't."

"She's sure not to like you now that you've pushed her into the mud." Serenity mused, still looking up at the sky, not at her daughter.

"No," Small Lady sighed. Then her small shoulders hunched up to her ears, and she swallowed. And murmured something so quietly Serenity barely caught it. "She's pretty."

"The girl you pushed?"

"Pretty like you." Knees pushed into her chest, arms wrapped around legs, and hazel eyes closed tightly. "They said 'she should be the queen's daughter'." Behind the darkness of her eyelids Small Lady heard her mother gasp.

"Nobody said that!"

"They did!"

She was gathered into an embrace against cool silk and warm arms and the small girl didn't move lest it break. It was so rare to be hugged like this by her mother. "I'll push them in the mud," Serenity muttered, to the reward of watery giggles from her young daughter.

"You are beautiful," her mother whispered into her hair. "Long lashes, sweet face, and thick, soft hair – but more importantly: Quick to laugh and stubborn when you care and clever and brave and earnest –"

"No one says I should be your daughter."

"That's because you already are," Serenity pushed her to arms length and looked into Small Lady's eyes with a half-smile. "Trust me. I see myself in you everyday. Only the best parts."

"What about when you are mad at me?"

"Oh, then it's your father I'm seeing." Serenity said. Small Lady smiled, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

"You are not off the hook, young lady. You will need to apologize," Serenity said sternly, "Officially and publicly. Do you realize the extra work we all had to do to smooth things over after that little stunt?"

"Yes, ma'am." She looked down at her feet, feeling guilty that she didn't feel more guilty.

But for more moments like that with her mother, she'd push a thousand spoiled children in the mud.


	2. Chapter 2

Prompt #2

 _Word of Earth's tumultuous feelings towards the Moon Kingdom have reached lunar ears, and Venus goes to Endymion to break things off between him and her beloved Princess._

* * *

The study was a relatively small room, and generally dark, and very cluttered. There was no point in ever attempting organization or straightening, since every few days one of the four kings would stomp in and sweep everything off the table and toss down a new map, unfold a new plan over the old, or simply pile papers and books on one side of the room to make room for new ones. Keeping everything in its place was a waste of time. It was a place for brainstorming, thinking, arguing and discussing.

Or, in this case, brooding. Prince Endymion stood over his desk with intense concentration, but not really seeing the papers scattered over it.

"So you are back from the north."

When Venus spoke, it startled him so much he jumped up and put his hand on his sword hilt instinctively.

At the gesture, she narrowed her eyes as if insulted and raised one perfect eyebrow. She didn't lift her hand from her uniformed waist. The blonde senshi stood framed in the room's one window, brilliant against the bruised evening sky.

"How the hell-" the prince sputtered.

The room had one window, one door, and it opened off of Endymion's private chambers – there was no need for security. At least, not usually.

"Let's leave the questions to me. Shall we?"

Sailor Venus spoke to Endymion rarely, and usually not unkindly. She usually saved the frustrated scolding to be hissed into her princess's ear, as she ferried the younger girl off, hand on her elbow, golden hair mingling with silver in the Earth's wind.

But now the senshi's voice was hard as steel, smooth as gold and Endymion realized this was how she must sound when sent on official business from the Queen of the Silver Millennium, not as a princess's friend and co-conspirator, but as an ambassador of worlds.

Endymion was no stranger to politics, and knew with a sick feeling that news given in secret was hardly ever good.

You went north," Venus said, again, almost conversationally. She ran gloved finger along the window sill. "You were in talks."

He didn't ask how she knew. The Silver Millennium always knew.

They always knew everything.

"Of course I talked with them. They are still my people," he answered sharply.

"They want war," she snapped.

"Their lives are hard," Endymion said, "they look for someone to blame-"

"Somehow their blame shifted from you," Venus' voice was almost studiously ponderous, as she turned cornflower blue eyes out the window, to the rising half-moon and its bright, twinkling companion on the horizon. "To us."

"It wasn't my doing," Endymion answered, but Venus held up her hand to silence him.

"It doesn't matter," she said, and for a moment her veneer cracked and her eyes looked sympathetic. "Prince Endymion, they want to attack our kingdom and you were in _talks_ with them."

It was the like the room was being slowly drained of air, Endymion was finding it hard to gather his breath, to explain himself. "How else am I –"

"Don't you realize the Moon Kingdom sees this as a near declaration of war?"

Her words cut through straight through him, and he was shocked into silence for a few moments. "How is that possible?" he said, but Venus just shook her head.

"Chalk it up to cultural differences. Fear. We don't fully trust you, Prince, nobody knows which side you are on-"

"The princess-"

"Is fifteen years old." Venus shook her head, "nobody listens to her, and if they did, what would she say that wouldn't make it _worse_ for you?"

And the air was gone, the room was tilting and Endymion struggled to maintain his gaze on Venus, on the bow in her hair, the piping on her glove, something to anchor himself before he was swept away in what she was implying.

"Are you saying they will declare war because I was in peace talks during a civil war on my own planet?" he managed to say. War with Serenity's kingdom was a nightmare he couldn't face, had spent every waking moment trying to avoid since going north to calm the rage of the people screaming for lunar blood. And Venus was here telling him it was too late, that everyone on the moon believed him to be a war monger, believed him to desire their deaths as much as Beryl, the loudest and scariest dissent voice among the people he was trying to dissuade.

Venus' hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality, and she looked right into his eyes. Tried to smile. "No. _We_ would never."

But the smile didn't reach her eyes. "But we are not allies, Prince. There is a tension between the kingdoms I have never felt before." She looked away, shuddered. "I can _feel_ it. I shouldn't even _be_ here."

He shut his eyes. Tried to breathe, to find air in the airless room.

"But I did come for a reason." Venus was speaking and the words refused to resonate, to coalesce into reason.

Something cold and heavy pressed into his palm, a metal that shimmered a golden silvery hue unlike what he'd seen before, a locket in the shape of a star. "It's Princess Serenity's, obviously," Venus was saying, her words fading in and out in Endymion's ears. "She doesn't know I'm here, and I'm loathe to know what I have to deal with when I get back. But I know she'd want you to have this."

He didn't look up, didn't look at her at all.

The sympathy was back in the senshi's eyes, "Endymion, I'm sorry I couldn't bring her here one last time to say goodbye."

Slowly he forced himself to realize what Venus was saying, before it was too late. "You can't take her from me," he managed to choke out.

"She's the heir to the entire Silver Millennium. It's far too dangerous for her to be in enemy territory."

"I'm doing everything I can-"

"It's not enough." Her words weren't harsh, just simple statement of fact.

"Then let me go there, let me talk to the queen-"

"Are you crazy?" Venus shook her head and turned to leave. She knew there would be hell to pay with Serenity, but she expected Endymion to be more reasonable. "Goodbye, Prince Endymion." _You have a broken kingdom to contend with and I have a princess to deal with,_ she thought. _And you and I may yet meet on the battlefield._

"Sailor Venus."

She turned and faced him, politely ignoring the brightness of his eyes, and white knuckles where he grasped the locket.

"I would never let anyone hurt Serenity. I would die first."

She nodded. "I know." Turned away. "But that doesn't change anything."

The last rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon as she left, the moon and the evening star blooming over the horizon in silent witness to the emptiness she left behind.


	3. Chapter 3

now you're just somebody that i used to know

* * *

He kept his arm around her the entire night, fingers digging into her waist just slightly, arm stiff and face held away from her.

Beryl grit her teeth and tilted her hip into his, slightly. "Are you ever going to let me out of your sight?"

"No," Endymion answered, not moving his arm from her. "Why else do you think you are my personal guest this evening?"

"Keeping me out of trouble," she tsked, sending cool green eyes over Endymion's guards, and the four kings, quietly posted around the ballroom. There were whispers and glances and no one was dancing. There was not much to celebrate, despite the occasion.

"If only it were that simple," he said.

Beryl reached and brushed a lock of hair back from his eyes, daring him to jerk away from her touch- here in front of so many people. Watching them. "As long as we are here together, for appearances, you could very well take ... advantage of the situation." She smiled slowly, let her eyes and body language speak of promises she was more than willing to fulfill. He blanched and looked away.

"You aren't my type."

Beryl laughed then. She couldn't help it. "Your highness, I'm _everyone's_ type."

He sighed, took one more glance around the room. Tensions were high and Beryl wished she could be speaking with the people on the floor, confirming suspicions and gathering support, rather than on the prince's arm. The one place she had always hoped to be, the one place she did not want to be tonight. And he knew it. That was his plan, after all.

"You know, you and I - we could have something great," she said, without a hint of wistfulness. Instead, amusement colored her voice. "At least we match wits."

"Please don't insult me by comparing us that way," he snapped back, through a false smile.

"Have no doubt, you'd be mine," Beryl said, her hand twining around waist to pull them together for a dance, "if you met me first."

"Beryl," the prince took her hand and brought it to his lips, politely declining the dance with a bow and step back. "I _did_ meet you first."

He left her on the dance floor with a courteous excuse, leaving her in the hands of one of his men.

She turned her charms on him, instead.

* * *

guys I'm sorry but SilMil Beryl is the best. idk why.


	4. Chapter 4

So I got some prompts from a fellow fan to write about my OTP so here's some random Usa/Mamo drabbles from all over canon (but they are canon. or supposed to be). Sorry it's not something more special.

heh.

* * *

 _When I'm on the edge of insanity, I'd hope you'd come to save me._

Between Dream Mirror attacks, final exams, two final thesis essays and a national standardized language test, registering for next year's classes and his adviser on his back to pick a major already, Mamoru felt like a walking experiment in sleep deprivation.

Days were blurring together and he found himself falling asleep for hours and not feeling any better, dizzy when he sat up and coughing at night. He brushed it off as stress but knew it was no excuse, the girls had it just as bad as he did, worse even.

When he didn't come to Sailor Moon's aid in a battle, Usagi would be cross with him for nearly a full minute or two, and he'd have to make it up with some sort of purchased confection or promise of future recompense. He was already in really deep with favors owed to her, actually, now that he thought about it.

And lately it wasn't even that, he had canceled dates, unreturned phone calls and missed group outings to answer for... he was terrified. How long before she just gave up on him altogether? He couldn't even remember the last time he saw her outside of throwing a rose in battle and quickly returning home to collapse in exhaustion.

With the banging on the door he realized he had slept right through the phone ringing. He had dozed off over his study guides in the early afternoon and by now long shadows of late evening snaked through the apartment. A million curse words shuttered through his head in the time it took her key to click open the lock and her footsteps to pad through the doorway.

But before he could open his mouth to issue forth apologies and beg forgiveness for missing dinner, she just bent and kissed him and for a few peaceful, blessed seconds nothing existed except her fingers on his chin and her bangs tickling his forehead.

Then he was looking into wide blue eyes that just barely masked deep concern with mock-reproach.

Usagi rested a large brown bag on the floor beside him. "I brought dinner," she said, with a motherly grin. "You need to eat, mister."

At the delicious smell of warm bento take-out, Mamoru realized he hadn't eaten since breakfast. Or had he even had anything besides coffee that day?

"Don't worry about a thing," she chirped, "I'll get this all set up-" plastic utensils, disposable chopsticks, napkins and canned tea all flew out of the bag with gusto and in an instant his coffee table was a make-shift dinner table with a make-shift dinner. Usagi looked ridiculously proud of domestic prowess, and he felt a smile on his face for the first time in days.

* * *

 _I wait forever for the day when you'll see me as more than just a friend._

"I used to think you were worst person in the world," she said, her head turned away from him, looking at the city lights. He could only see the back of her head, the part of her hair, curls at her neck and stress hunch of her shoulders, reacting to what he had just told her - to the situation - to the close space - the danger pressing down on them from every direction.

For a second her hand clenched. Then she turned toward him and smiled.

"But now... I think... second worst!" Usagi's cheeks flushed a little, and she turned away again, quickly.

Mamoru was sure Zoisite meant him to die here tonight, in the Starlight Tower. But the look in Usagi's eyes just before she glanced away made him want to fight death just that much harder.

* * *

 _I need to gather the strength to just let go._

The third train pulled out of the terminal through the blur of tears in Usagi's eyes. For the third time, she did not get on. The Narita Express Train ticket, the last thing Mamoru had purchased for her, was becoming soft in her hand as she ran her fingers over and over the perforations. "It's easy, just take it to Nippori station and you are only two stops away on JR ... Usako, are you listening to me? This is the quickest way to get home safe..." his hand on her waist, his eyes so kind.

She hadn't wanted to think about having to return from the airport, alone, empty with the spot beside her so much colder, so she just... hadn't.

Now she had to wait. Until she was ready. To face the world, so familiar and so unfamiliar at the same time.

Another train pulled in, passengers leaving nosily, tugging suitcases behind them, more filing on. No one gave the small, empty-handed girl a second look.

Usagi took a deep breath, nodded, and stepped onto the train just as the doors were closing.

* * *

 _Your love hurts, stings, and is addicting. Is it poison?_

Mamoru could stand his own heartbreak, as gut wrenching as it was to imagine life without Usagi, he could bear that. It would protect her, after all, and that was his purpose.

Her heartbreak, however, was another kind of hurt altogether and he was utterly unprepared for the freight train of raw emotion that derailed into his rib cage when she brokenly apologized for bothering him all these days, with unshed tears in her eyes. That was true hurt.

And every time she looked at him with hope, biting on her lip, weaving her fingers together. When she still insisted on asking him, if maybe ... now...? Nothing stung like seeing that drop of blood on her lip, when she bit down too hard after hearing his rejection again.

But he couldn't stop himself from coming to her aid in every battle, even though he had to admit they could handle it fine without him most of the time. When he saw her he couldn't stop himself from starring, when she ran into him in the street he could never let go of her arms right away. Training his mouth to form her given name was still difficult. He lived for the look in her eyes when she saw him, that split second when she forgot they weren't together anymore and she was delighted to see him and for a second he was, too.

Lived for it and hated it because it still. hurt.

* * *

 _I want you so bad, but you want someone else._

"Oh, Mamoru-sama," Natsumi linked her arm through his, and he didn't pull away. "Since we have to work so closely in the Snow White play, let's walk home together."

The brunette shot Usagi a victorious look as she left, with her head pressed close to Mamoru's shoulder, as they talked quietly.

The door to the gymnasium closed behind them.

Dimly, Usagi was aware of Makoto slamming her fist into her palm, and the girls' conversation around her.

It was Naru who eventually came and put a hand on Usagi's arm. "Usagi, are you okay?"

Like a vibrating string in a hollow box, Usagi pulled on anger as hard as she could until it filled her until she couldn't feel anything else.

Anything painful. Anything scary - like that a gorgeous girl with shiny hair and olive-shaped eyes and a delicious foreign accent was alone with the man Usagi loved more than anything in the entire world. Or that he might never remember Usagi. Or that every day she fell deeper in love with him and every day he seemed to think she was weirder and weirder.

"UGH WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS!" Usagi wailed, "Stealing the part that's rightfully mine and trying to kiss my Mamoru-san? ARRRUUUGH!"

Anger was easy. Anger was safe.

And Usagi could do anger.

* * *

 _Don't ever change. Not for me; not for anybody else._

"So then he said," Usagi waved her hand like it what she was about to say should be obvious, "that Ami shouldn't spend so much time with me, because I'm, ya know." A shrug. "Such a bad student and probably a drain on her... what's the word? ... potential."

"Your principal said that?" Mamoru's incredulous tone must not have masked the anger underneath his words because Usagi flushed and mumbled back.

"He didn't know I was eavesdropping."

"Well, that explains a lot about today," he said thoughtfully. Glancing down at her, he could only see the top of her head as they walked along the deserted city street, bringing her home after dropping Ami off at her complex nearby.

"I thought if I stopped asking Ami for any help at all we could stay friends. If I was careful not to, um, be a drain on..."

"-her potential?"

"I know I was wrong," Usagi said quickly, "I mean, Ami made that pretty clear."

Mamoru sighed then, in that way he did a lot around her, deeply and methodologically. As if he needed a few moments to regroup internally before facing the task before him.

"When Ami thought she lost part of your friendship, she lost her direction for a bit," Mamoru said finally.

"Her direction?" She pulled on his arm until he stopped and faced confused blue eyes and wrinkled little nose. "Like a compass? North, South, East, West?"

"Usako-"

"If anything, Mamo-chan, if *anything* I'm like that thing you put next to a compass that makes it go all crazy." She waved her finger around haphazard arcs and circles in his face until he rolled his eyes and grabbed it.

"A magnet," he said. "And you aren't. I mean, if we want to start talking in metaphors I'm sure I could take this somewhere very poetic but for now let's just say, as far as Ami is concerned, as far as any of those girls are concerned, you are their focal point, their source of strength - just like they are to you."

Mamoru realized he was still standing on the street, awkwardly holding her pointer finger in his hand while she blinked up at him in the moonlight. Mentally rolling his eyes at himself, he threaded his fingers through hers, and started walking again.

"Usako, all I'm saying is, you don't need to change yourself, or your friendship with Ami. No matter what some blowhard in charge of Juuban public schools says. Okay?"

She was silent, mulling over his words.

"Hey, Mamo-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"What, exactly, did Ami-chan mean when she kept saying 'she wouldn't give up on that either'?"

"Usako," he said warningly.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't think you are going to get away with shamelessly carrying on extraneous flirtation with one of my best friends!" Taking a few jogging steps forward, she pounded his chest playfully with her free hand. "Hey! Answer me!"

"That's not what extraneous means."

"Don't focus on word-choice! Mamo-chan! Hey!" She pulled on his other arm while he fought back a smile of relief as he noticed the trouble that was clouding her eyes at the beginning of their conversation had faded away.


	5. Chapter 5

so on tumblr, idk, I was doing all these little shorts when followers gave me prompts, so I thought I'd put them here.

* * *

 _ **Setsuna** and **Chibiusa** on a picnic! Preferably a friendship fic, not a romantic one._

"Where to today?" she asks, a smile playing around ruby lips.

In response, the princess tilts her head to the side, regarding the amusement hidden behind Sailor Pluto's striking hazel eyes.

"It seems like you already have somewhere in mind," she half-accuses- plaintively, as only the young can. Her cloud of cotton-candy hair and pink dress are fireworks, bursts of color in the grey haze beyond the space-time door.

"Indeed I do," Sailor Pluto responds with a wink. A wave of her hand and an early-20th-century park appears around them, shimmering in the mist like the illusion it is. Children in Victorian clothing scamper on the grass, kites fly in the breeze, and the London skyline rises in the background.

"Did you bring the food?" It is still an unfamiliar feeling for Pluto, smiling.

Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity raises the decorated woven basket, almost half the size of her small body, and mock-grimaces slightly at the painstakingly historically accurate mirage her best friend created for their "day out."

"Puu? Does this mean we have to speak English?"

* * *

 _ **King Endymion** and **Mamoru** at the psychiatrist's office._

"I just plain don't like the guy," Mamoru huffed at the long-suffering psychiatrist, who merely raised an eyebrow at him while jotting something in her notebook. "And I don't see why I should have to."

"Because I am your future self," the other man answered, "it's hardly a conundrum."

"Well, that's why you are here," the woman said, before the younger man could retort. "To narrow down the reasons for and tackle the animosity between you two before a space-time continuum rip wipes us out of existence."

"There's no mystery. He's pompous and arrogant and controlling and look at that suit!" Mamoru gestured wildly at King Endymion, "It's _purple_ for god's sake! Who dresses like that?"

The king raised his eyebrows. "I get a myriad of compliments on this outfit, I'll have you know. And really, you can't claim that I hold the lion's share of arrogance or ceremony between the two of us and also I don't think I'm controlling at all."

Mamoru huffed and crossed his arms. "Right, reaching one thousand years into the past just to mess with my relationship isn't _controlling_."

"Let's work with this," the doctor chimed in, adjusting her fake wire-rim glasses.

"No, there are certain things I refuse to discuss-"

"Refuse to discuss THIS!"

Sighing, the doctor ducked just in time to dodge the pen bouncing off the wall and flying toward her face. "Let's take a break," she muttered, pinching her nose between a thumb and forefinger. "There is coffee in the waiting room."

"It's awful though," Mamoru said absentmindedly, as he rummaged on the nearby desk and grabbed some more pens to throw. "Like dishwater."

"Indeed," Endymion added, looking up from adjusting one of his many medals that had been knocked askew while avoiding Mamoru's make-shift attacks. "It could use a little chicory maybe."

"Or cinnamon," Mamoru added, uncapping a pen and aiming.

The doctor sighed, putting her face in her hands. "Pluto better pay me double for today."

* * *

 _30th century **Juno** and **Pallas** play a game to decide who has to… do some sort of tedious, menial, responsible task. _

"That's the third time you've cheated!" Juno said, putting her hands on her hips and fixing her younger sister with a penetrating stare.

"Am not!" the girl in question retorted, the beads in her blue hair swinging as she shook her head violently.

"To be fair, can someone actually _cheat_ in jan-ken-pon?" Cere remarked from her perch on a parapet above the quarreling sisters.

"If anyone can, it'd be Palla," Ves answered, watching the drama unfold with amusement sparkling in her eyes. "Anything to avoid accompanying Usa-chan to another royal meeting with Crystal Tokyo waste management."

* * *

 _ **Usagi** falls in love with **Saphir** (or vice versa) while she's captured by Dimande._

She never got used to the cold.

The rest, Neo-Queen Serenity slowly became accustomed to. The darkness, the emptiness, cold eyes of the subjects of the Black Moon as they silently regarded her when she passed. Demando's sneering taunts and wandering hands, and the devastating loneliness. All that she could lock away in her heart.

But not the cold - it seeped in through the obsidian walls and brought goosebumps to her flesh while she slept, swirled through the ruins of her destroyed kingdom- Crystal Tokyo defeated and crippled under the eerie light of a ghostly moon. Her friends and husband gone. Her child vanished into the mists of time, never to be born.

The grief was crushing.

Sapphir first came to her with hatred in his eyes and in the set of his jaw. He glared at her from his brother's side, his hands itching, Serenity knew, to lock around her throat.

But then the Earth moaned and began to die under Wiseman's rule - mirroring Nemesis. The whispers started - of an uprising, of the younger brother grown wary of Wiseman's twists of words.

As Demando's eyes grew more and more blank, Sapphir's began to brighten. He began to speak and think of a better future - of how to save them all, Demando, Esmeraulde, all of them, from Wiseman's toxic grip.

And Serenity listened. Because she knew about dreaming of a better life. He touched her hand, and Serenity forgot to feel cold.

When the uprising failed, and Wiseman killed all the rebels but Sapphir (spared only by his brother's insistence) - Serenity felt the cold crush in her lungs. She huddled by the window of the Black Palace, arms curled around her legs, tears freezing on her cheeks. The former Crystal Tokyo was still rotting away outside the glass.

Sapphir came and silently placed a blanket around her shoulders. His hands were bruised and his face swollen as he kissed her. It was the coldest kiss she ever felt.

* * *

 _kid-ified **Rubeus** and **Chibiusa** crushing on each other_

"Stupid, he doesn't even _like_ chocolate!" Koan taunted, her face screwed up in childlike distain.

Chibi-Usa flushed. "I'm giving everyone in my class chocolate! and I had extra! So there!"

"He's not even in your class," she continued, "he's in _fifth grade_. Like me. And he doesn't care about your stupid candy, right, Rubeus?"

The red-headed boy flushed and darted a look at Chibi-Usa from the corner of his eye. She was stubbornly lifting her chin to the older girl, all pink hair and sparkling eyes and childlike defiance. His heart thumped a little.

"It's fine, Koan, whatever," he said, tucking the package of chocolate into his schoolbag with a shrug. "It was nice of her. Thanks, Usa."

Koan walked off, muttering in annoyance.

Chibi-Usa nodded curtly and ran off, to her fourth-grade friends congregating around the monkey bars.

Rubeus' hand curled around the chocolates in his bag, and he watched her go.

* * *

 _ **Rei** and **Usagi** running a fan panel at a convention! Aaaaany kind of convention during aaany timeline_

"You're late," Rei snapped, looking up from where she was taping a banner to the front of a folding card table.

"Better late than clever!" Usagi said cheerfully. "As Minako would say." Huffing a little, she dropped a giant box on the table, making it wobble dangerously above Rei's head.

"Hey! Watch it Usagi!" Rei cried out, crawling out from underneath with a look of murder on her beautiful face. "You could have killed me!"

Usagi smiled charmingly at her friend. "I'd just bring you back to life."

There was a beat. Rei rolled her eyes. "What IS in that box that anyway?" She pulled to straighten the banner she had just hung. It read: _Minako Aino Fan Panel! Discussion of the pop idol's songs, life and philosophy!_

"Signed photographs obviously!" Usagi said, happily. She pulled out the glossy 5x7s and showed them to Rei. "Minako was more than happy to help out!"

Rei rolled her eyes at the over-the-top pose and Minako's wink and smiley heart where she signed her name.

"That girl-"

"We love her," Usagi said, happily setting up the photos for the fans to take.

Rei sat in the folding chair and thoughtfully leaned her head on her hand. "Yup. We do."

(AU where anime-Minako makes it big and the girls are her biggest fans omg!)

* * *

 _ **Chibi-usa** and **Usagi** shortly after finding out their relationship after everythings okay again._

Usagi walked in the room right as Chibi-Usa was putting Luna-P away. The younger girl jumped. "Don't you knock?"

Usagi shrugged slightly, munching on a rice cracker as she regarded Chibi-Usa. "It's my house," she said through a mouthful of crumbs. Chibi-Usa mock-glared.

"Are you ever _not_ eating?" she mumbled, annoyed.

"Sometimes I'm sleeping," Usagi said cheerfully. She popped the last of the cracker into her mouth and walked into the room, flopping down on Chibi-Usa's bed. "What were you doing with Luna-P?"

"I was talking to Pluto," Chibi-Usa ran her fingers along the patters on her bedspread, not meeting Usagi's eyes. "She was saying everything is fine at home - with… with my mom -"

Usagi straightened and pulled nervously on one of her long pigtails. It was so strange to speak of Chibi-Usa's mother now that - now that Usagi knew who she was. Or, would be. "Oh um-"

"So she's saying I should go back," Chibi-Usa continued.

"Well… that's great!" Usagi said finally. "I'm sure they miss you. And I know you really want to be with your mom and dad."

Chibi-Usa finally met Usagi's eyes and nodded quickly. "Right. With my-" She cut herself off by launching herself quickly into Usagi's arms. The older girl's arms came up around her and hugged her tightly. "Thank you," Chibi-Usa whispered into the folds of Usagi's blue dress.

"Anytime," Usagi whispered back.

There was a pause.

"Now get out of here, I have to _pack_!" Chibi-Usa pushed Usagi slightly and the blonde fell off the bed with a grunt.

"Hey!"

* * *

 _A young **Princess Serenity** and **Queen Serenity**! You pick the setting! ;)_

At the celebration of Serenity's birth, the Queen was never a foot away from her infant daughter - who was nestled sleepily in a bassinet of lace and silk. Every so often, when she felt she could get away with it, Queen Serenity would kneel down and kiss her daughter's soft cheek, and smell the sweet straw scent of her hair. The music and revelry went on around her without her even seeing it. All she could see was her baby.

When Serenity turned one, there was another ball, and the princess spent the entire time with wide, interested eyes - her chubby hand clutching at Venus' skirt as she toddled between admirers. When it all become too much, she hid in the silken folds of her mother's skirts. Every so often, the queen would kneel, run her hands through Serenity's soft pigtails and whisper that it was all okay.

When Serenity turned six, she was already at home in the bright, lively ballroom. Her giggles echoed off the marble walls as an exasperated Mars chased the younger girl through the dance floor. Bumping into legs and arms of the dancing couples, Serenity ran up the dais to her mother and gave a semi-toothless smile to the queen. "Be ladylike, dear," Queen Serenity scolded gently and the princess nodded and stood tall and serious next to her mother. The queen smoothed the folds of the princess's dress and smiled.

When Serenity turned twelve, she stood with her mother on the dais for the bare minimum of time expected - preferring to dance and eat and giggle with her guardians. She was becoming an accomplished dancer, and growing taller every day. For a moment, when watching Serenity gracefully decline a suitor's request to dance and place her pale hand on Jupiter's arm to be lead away, the queen was struck by how grown up her daughter looked. Queen Serenity blinked away tears before anyone could see.

When Serenity turned sixteen, everything had changed. The party was thrown, with no expense spared, but most attendees knew it was a ruse. Guards were posted at every door and sprinkled throughout the crowd disguised as guests - only given away by their watchful, serious eyes. The senshi weren't laughing. The yards of silk and sparkling jewels adorning the princess could not hide her pale face and bitten nails. The Earth hung in the sky like a portent of doom - its skies turned to charcoal.

As the princess prepared for her entrance into the ballroom, Queen Serenity put a hand on her daughter's shoulders. "Everything will be okay," she lied.

The princess' face crumbled and for the first time in a long time she threw her arms around her mother. The queen shut her eyes and breathed in the sweet straw scent of Serenity's hair. Then the announcement was made, the princess entered the ballroom on shaking legs.

Queen Serenity stood on the stairway, watching the party without really seeing it.

All she could see was her baby.

* * *

 _ **King Endymion** and **Artemis** 's dialogue in front of Small Lady's suitor before her first date. ] ((or something about them and her first date. ^^'))_

"It's nine-thirty-two," King Endymion said, agitatedly running a hand through his graying lavender hair while he paced back and forth in the empty ballroom. The only light came from over the fully stocked but vacant bar stand.

"I thought you said her curfew was ten?" Artemis responded lazily, form his perch on a white-sheet covered table. He licked the end of his tail.

"But that's only half an hour to get back! And I thought she'd be back already, I mean, it's dark out and-"

"Crystal Tokyo is well-lit, crime-free and safe at all hours of the night," Artemis responded with a smirk. "Thanks in part to you. No need to worry."

"Maybe to _you_ there is no need to worry, Diana is fast asleep under the floor heater right now. _Your_ little girl is safe, _you_ -"

"-lived with Minako when she was in high school," Artemis interjected. "I've had my fair share of worry when she was Small Lady's age…" Then his furry brow furrowed. "Actually, come to think of it —-"

Endymion and Artemis exchanged terrified glances.

"Where _is_ Small Lady?!" Artemis said, panic suddenly in his voice. "it's _9:35_!"

* * *

 _ **King Endymion** and **Neo Queen Serenity** as tour guides!  
_

"Hello and welcome to Crystal Tokyo Tours! I'm your special guest tour guide Ser—uh, ha ha, Usagi. And this is my assistant-"

" _Co_ -tour guide."

"Assistant. Endy— uh, Mamo-ch- uh, Mamoru!"

"Smooth."

"Anyway, please enjoy our open-top Crystal Bus Tour! It's the best way to see the sights of our beautiful city! I'll be pointing them out as- what? OH _we'll_ be pointing them out as we pass by. No, there's only one microphone I just. Get your own! Hey! Mamo-ch—!"

"Okay, so ladies and gentlemen, on your left you'll see a plaque on the street marking the former site of the Crown Arcade. Well known as a hang-out for the senshi in their schoolgirl days. Also, rumor has it, the place where Neo-Queen Serenity would waste hours of her life playing video games instead of studying and then whine about her grad- hey, excuse you!"

"AND further down the road you'll see the entrance to Crystal Tokyo Park. I suggest you check it out later, as it's a fun place for the whole family. There is a carousel, kiddie train - oh, remember when you used to ride on the kiddie train as a college student, _Mamoru_? That was certainly a stra- HEY!"

"And straight ahead you'll see the gates to the Crystal Tokyo Academy, one of the best high schools in the city of Crystal Tokyo and even the world. Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity attends classes there, and is top of her class! Not to mention sweet, lovely and well-liked. Everyone wave! Wave, please, at my little gi- I mean. The princess."

" _If I may take over for a second?_ Thank you. I want to point out the view of the Crystal Palace from this angle, you can see the very top of the spire on the left-side. That's our- erm - _their_ private observatory. The views of the night sky are just breathtaking with telescopes designed by Sailor Mercury herself. It's open to the public two days a year so make arrangements if you'd like to visit. It's very romantic, too. I'm just- what?"

"A-and to your right, you'll see a giant crystal."

"To your left another giant crystal!"

"Well, that concludes our tour! Please take a map and we'll be happy to point you in the direction of historical sites and monuments -"

"-And the best desserts in the city!"

"-and educational museums-"

"And shopping centers!"

"-the largest library in the world-"

"and romantic date spots!"

"Thank you for visiting our city."

* * *

 _heh. also if you want to see my tumblr it is Idesofnovember but god knows why you'd want to go down that rabbit hole  
_


	6. Chapter 6

this was a request based on the following prompt: **'we met through mutual friends and you call me a different name but I don't have the heart to correct you'**

* * *

This really wasn't Mamoru's scene. The music was loud and the din of laughing and talking even moreso. The apartment they were in (a friend of a friend's of Motoki's maybe? Mamoru wasn't even sure) was wall to wall people, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Everyone except him.

"Hey, Mamoru!" Motoki waved him over to the corner where Motoki was standing surrounded (as usual, Mamoru thought, amused) by girls. It took a while to make his way to his friend, elbowing people aside and squeezing past groups.

"This is my friend, Mamoru," Motoki said, and gestured to the girls, "this is Makoto, the girl I told you about. And her friends, um, Rei, Usagi, Ami and Minako. They are new freshman."

He barely greeted them before the crowd changed again. A few minutes later, Mamoru found himself on a nearby sofa having a conversation with a couple kids he knew from CogSci when he was joined by one of the girls Motoki had introduced him to before. The shortest one, with the pigtails.

"Hi!" She said, bouncing down and almost spilling her drink. "M…Masanori! Motoki's friend!"

"Actu–"

"What are we talking about?" she asked, leaning forward into the conversation. Mamoru could tell she wasn't completely drunk, but wasn't quite fully sober either. Unless she was just always like this. "Anything good?!"

"Usagi, right?" Mamoru said and she nodded and smiled widely.

"Yup!"

"Well, just so you know my na–" but then she was hopping up just as quickly as she had sat down.

"I LOVE this song!" she cried. "C'mon, Masanori - hey can I call you 'Nori-chan?- let's dance!"

"But I-" Resistance, Mamoru realized, was utterly futile. Never mind no one else was dancing, never mind there wasn't even any room to, Usagi didn't seem to let that deter her from her goal. She pulled on his hands until he stood up and followed her to kitchen area, closer to the speakers, wiggling to the music the whole time.

Gently, Mamoru took the red plastic cup from Usagi's hand and handed her a bottle of water from the counter. "Let's switch to water," he said.

"What?!" She said.

He had to repeat himself, right up next to her ear and she nodded with wide eyes. "Oooh okay!" she shouted back. "THANKS 'NORI-CHAN!" She threw her arms his neck and gave him a tight hug, before jumping back and pulling on his arm again.

"C'mon, 'Nori-chan, let's see if Minako is around here, she likes water too," Usagi said, not letting go of Mamoru's hand.

Motoki joined them then, with Makoto. "Looks like you made a friend," Motoki said, laughing. Usagi laughed too, winding her arm through Mamoru's protectively.

Makoto gently pulled Usagi toward her and put an arm around the smaller girl.

"Sorry," Makoto said to Mamoru, projecting her voice over the music. "She only had one drink but she gets this way."

"It's okay," Mamoru said. He was surprised to realize he hadn't actually minded. Although it would have been even nicer if she knew his actual name. Oh, well.

"We should go," another girl appeared, dark-haired. Mamoru thought he remembered Motoki introducing her as Rei. "Minako is gonna start dancing on the furniture."

"Right," Makoto said, giving an apologetic smile to Motoki.

"Welp, see you around campus!" she said, waving as she left with Rei to go gather the rest of her group together.

"Bye NORI-CHAN!" Usagi waved, blowing him a kiss. "I hope I see you around! You are SO CUTE!"

"Usagi!" Rei hissed, and her friends quickly tried to quiet her down while giving Mamoru apologetic shrugs. They disappeared into the crowd.

"Who the hell is Nori-chan?" Motoki asked, looking confused.

Mamoru shook his head with a small smile and shrugged, reaching for a water bottle himself. "A lucky guy, I guess," he said.


	7. Chapter 7

**tumblr prompt:**

 **Mamoru decides to cook a meal for Usagi but for some reason she doesn't want to eat it**

(fyi-ish, this is based on a particular episode in SuperS)

* * *

It was Usagi's favorite dish, or rather, her favorite dish that came from a person other than Mako-chan. Or her mother. Mamoru usually made it for Usagi when her visits ran late and neither felt like spending the time or money on take-out, and lately he'd been whipping it up for the impromptu "dates" they'd been squeezing in-between battles and school work and other craziness. It was simple, Chinese -style noodles panfried in a spiced sauce, (a staple of Mamoru's student lifestyle) - but he'd made it so many times by now he felt he'd perfected it to a certain point. It was a nice trick to have up his sleeve, and Usagi always raved over it, which was nice.

Except tonight she didn't say anything as he placed the plate in front of her, hot and ready. In fact, Mamoru was four or five bites into his portion when he noticed Usagi hadn't touched her food.

This was concerning.

"You alright, Usako?" Mamoru asked, putting his spoon down.

"Fine, thanks," she said, frowning primly at the fragrant noodles steaming appealingly from the plate in front of her. She poked at it with a chopstick. "Just not hungry."

It had gone from concerning to downright terrifying.

"Usa…ko…" Mamoru said, his own hunger completely forgotten. "Are you feeling okay?" Quickly he ran calculations in his head. How far to the nearest clinic? Should he call 119 would that be quicker? Or Ami? What had happened to her in the past few days, was she injured in that last attack, the one with the sickening trapeze swing over the Tokyo high-rises. Those damn circus freaks and their -

His thoughts where interrupted when Usagi's stomach growled loudly and she frowned and crossed her arms stubbornly. Her mouth was pulled in a straight, determined line.

Oh, she _was_ hungry.

"Well ya know," Usagi said, with a lilt of her head and roll of her eyes, "since I'm so _heavy_ and all, I should probably lay off the late-night noodles, if you know what I meeeaaan."

Mamoru wasn't concerned for her health anymore, but the whole situation was somehow still pretty terrifying.

"What the heck are you _talking_ about?"

"'Oh, Sailor Moon, have you gained weight?'" Usagi said in a low voice which Mamoru assumed was her impression of him, which was as mocking as it was inaccurate. "'I'm gonna drop you on this trapeze because you weight so much hurr hurr'."

"Jeeze, Usako, that was a joke!" Mamoru said, after he picked his jaw off the ground (figuratively. He was suddenly glad it was just the two of them, and not the girls - then his jaw might literally be on the ground, he reflected.)

"I was trying to lighten the mood," he realized his poor choice of words and Usage's glare and cleared his throat. The noodles he'd eaten were sticking rather uncomfortably in his belly. "Obviously you had like four other people hanging off you, it was a very stressful, scary situation, I could tell you were terrified and I just thought…" he spread his hands and shrugged with a cringe. "Stupid joke, no big deal."

"It is a big deal, you utterly clueless… boy!" Usagi said, nearly upending her plate as she stood. "You can't just go around calling your girlfriend _fat_ how do you _not know this_?"

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it was stupid, _I'm_ stupid, I don't know what I was thinking."

She was still standing cross-armed, glaring.

"I made the joke because obviously…" he floundered around for words, "obviously you aren't too heavy to carry, I do it all the time."

Her glare turned into a sulk.

"Look, I– " awkwardly he ran his hand through his hair, feeling his face flush. Again, he said a silent prayer of thanks the girls weren't here to witness this. "I like how you look. Your… body. It's cute. You're cute."

The sulk became a pout.

"Really cute," he said, putting his fists to his eyes in frustration. "You aren't 'too heavy' or anything and please sit eat these noodles I made you and stop being mad at me."

The pout pulled upwards slightly. "I'm still mad at you," Usagi said, sitting down and picking up her chopsticks. She shoved a few bites into her mouth before continuing. "But I suppose I'll forgive you eventually."

Mamoru sighed, relieved. "I'll take it," he said.


	8. Chapter 8

These are various prompts from tumblr I found while organizing my tags. They are all so short, I'm putting them in one chapter.

* * *

 _Yahoo me, Haruka and Usagi._

The cheers erupting from the crowd around her alerted Usagi to Haruka's appearance from the pit only seconds before she found herself engulfed in the other girl's arms and lifted in a tight spin through the air.

"Won, of course!" Haruka beamed, throwing her helmet to the ground and kissing Usagi on the cheek triumphantly, three or four times. Usagi found herself unable to stop giggling through a bright red flush, even as news cameras went off and reports shoved microphones into Haruka's face.

"Tenoh-san, is this your new girlfriend?"

Haruka smiled and wrapped her arm around Usagi, "No," she said. "This is my princess."

Half a world away, Michiru and some of her peers from the European Concert Tour were watching Haruka's race on a small TV in a hotel room. Her fellow musicians raised eyebrows at Haruka's exhilarated post-race interview, but Michiru could only shake her head and smirk. Her cell phone buzzed quietly on a nearby table and Michiru picked it up and read the text message out loud: "Don't kill me. Don't kill me. Please don't kill me."

"Ha. That from Haruka?" someone asked.

"No," Michiru laughed. "It's from Usagi."

* * *

 _Fight me mamoru & seiya _

_I also got Amuse Me (Mamoru & Seiya) I combined them_

The monster was huge, ugly and a complete surprise. To Seiya, at least.

Starfighter dogged a fireball and gave the closest Senshi - it happened to be Jupiter - a quizzical look that clearly read: 'What the fuck is this?'

Jupiter shrugged slightly. "It happens. Something about residual chaos attracted to all the senshi starseeds on Ear-" she rolled to avoid a direct shot and shook her head. "Ami will explain later. Sorry it was during your visit, though."

And then they sent their respective attacks flying.

It was only when things seemed hopeless (or rather, Eternal Sailor Moon was fumbling for her weapon in a subspace pocket and simultaneously trying to squirm away from the monster's giant hand-like appendages) that a red rose cut through the monsters' left eye. Sailor Moon cried out in grateful joy, and the newcomer introduced himself from atop a nearby telephone pole.

Starfighter raised her eyebrows at Venus, who was standing up and dusting off her fuku. "Is that-"

"Yeah," Venus said, seemingly completely uninterested in Tuxedo Kamen's introduction and subsequent poem. "This is sort of his thing."

Starfighter watched - on the ready- while Sailor Moon used the monster's distraction to hit it with a direct shot and dissolve it into dust, falling from it's grip into Tuxedo Kamen's arms as he jumped to catch her. Starfighter lowered her eyes as they embraced.

"Theatrical," Seiya couldn't help commenting a few moments later, as they all stood in civilian forms.

Usagi hadn't let go of Mamoru, although her feet were now steady on the grass and once again in their scuffed mary janes. Seiya tried not to focus on their entwined arms.

Mamoru shrugged a little. "It's an entrance."

"So how do you work, anyway?" Seiya poked Mamoru in the chest, causing him to blink in unsure surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"You just… like, throw roses and recite poems while dressed up for a wedding? What else can you do?" Seiya titled her head and examined Mamoru as if she was looking at a new species of animal at the zoo.

"It's really interesting!" Ami jumped in, "He carries Earth's Starseed but being male can't hold a senshi's power. He has some interesting quirks though-" and she continued, her tone of voice making it quite clear she thought about this often and considered Mamoru to be her own personal science experiment.

Seiya only caught about 80% of what Ami was saying. However, Mamoru's clear discomfort, Usagi's clear disinterest, and the true meaning behind the facts that Ami was spewing at record speed - Well, Seiya felt cheered up already.

* * *

 _Offer me - Naru to Usagi_

Usagi Tsukino pouted. Kicked her feet on the chair in front of her. Moaned out loud and covered her eyes with her hands.

"I'm so…," she took a breath, a forlorn look deep in her blue eyes, " _hungry_!" She drew out the word as long as she could, and buried her head in the arms of her starched new middle school uniform.

"Um," a voice behind her said, poking her in the back with a pencil. "Do you want an onigiri?"

Usagi shot up and spun around, eyes sparkling. "Yes please!" She took the rice ball in a move so fast the girl sitting behind her barely blinked before Usagi was chowing down.

"I can't believe I forgot my _lunch_ on my first day of middle school!" she mumbled between bites, spraying rice. She reached out for more food, pausing only a moment to smile at the girl in front of her. "Hey, you aren't from Juuban Elementary. Are you new?"

"Moved here from Osaka," she said in a cheerful kansai accent. "I'm Naru."

"Usagi!" the other girl answered enthusiastically. Naru smiled, glad to have made a friend on her first day of school in Tokyo.

* * *

 _Paint Me - Michiru and Ami._

"I- I've just never, that is, I've done this before - many times- but always alone. Never in front of anyone." Ami went to curl her hands in her lap and stopped herself when she remembered she still held the brush, poised in one tense hand.

"It's just painting," Michiru said gently. "I'm not going to judge you." She tucked a strand of wavy hair behind one seashell ear in a movement that was almost appallingly too graceful.

It was a typical Tokyo summer, the shade of the trees and breeze from the lake in the park barely cut through the grueling humidity. But Michiru's hair and face seemed unaffected, as if she was merely out on a cool day, relaxing by the pool. Her brush was already flicking over her canvas, blues and greens appearing in a artistic and lovely interpretation of the scene before her.

Ami looked at the lake in front of her, tried to become inspired. Then, she picked up her brush.

The sun was low in the sky when Michiru stood and began to pack up, flashing Ami a disarmingly beautiful smile. "Well, what do you think? Would you like to show me?"

The picture Ami painted of Michiru hangs in her studio to this day.

* * *

 _Remember Me_

"What do you mean, 'Usagi who'?" Usagi's mouth pursed and her eyebrows drew together in confusion. "You don't remember me at _all_?!"

The nervous head shake and longing glance down the street for the bus did not deter the small blonde from her interrogation.

"How could you forget me? I used to drive you crazy! For, like, a whole year, don't you remember?"

At the lack of response Usagi pouted further and crossed her arms, about to really let loose with a million identifying characteristics, starting with her hair (that usually stuck in people's minds) when the redhead raised her hand and hailed a cab, telling the driver: "anywhere but here!"

Usagi sighed. "I think she was lying."

"Do you," Mamoru deadpanned from the bus-stop bench, where he was reading a book and pretending he had nothing to do with the scene that had unfolded before him.

"Of course!" she wailed. "I mean, how could Ms. Haruna not _remember me_!? I was her _favorite student!"_

* * *

 _Haunt Me; Minako to Usagi?  
_

She didn't know.

Through the sunlit city and warm summer nights she lived her life, laughing and sparkling and sometimes stumbling, sometimes hiding tears behind the blue of her eyes.

But she didn't know.

How Minako watched her, always watched her, hands sometimes twitching with readiness. Never at ease, never free. Wondering if she even desired freedom.

It was programed into her very blood, woven through her DNA and tattooed onto her heart: Princess Serenity, Usagi, Sailor Moon. It didn't matter her name. Only that Minako was her protector. And she would not fail again.

And so Minako watched. Everyday. Neo-Queen Serenity would sometimes catch her eye, and behind her usual smile and wave was a moment, a flash, of understanding. But it would fade just as quickly.

Sometimes, late at night, Minako sat in the thrum of the living crystal city and wondered who was haunting whom.

* * *

 _Offer Me, Rei & Mako. _

Random snatches of city noise stubbornly echoed into the depths of the cemetery, so Rei sensed rather than heard the soft crunch of the footfall behind her. She whirled in the offense, brows knit and eyes flashing.

"What?" she challenged, as if she'd be caught in the act of something shameful, ridiculous.

Makoto didn't say anything, instead held out her offering to Rei with silent, understanding eyes. The priestess accepted it wordlessly, pressing her lips together to keep the tears from spilling out.

Rei didn't say 'thank you' to Makoto until weeks later, and in an off-hand, nonchalant manner that was no doubt heavily rehearsed. Makoto, for her part, just nodded, smiled, and changed the subject.

And the perfect, pink rose sat silently on a mother's gravestone, a splash of color in the sea of wood and gray stone.


	9. Chapter 9

****angst warning**** The following are a few of the angst fics I did for a tumblr prompts a while ago. These are only some of them, but you get the idea. If you want to follow me on tumblr for more fic prompt games like this, my URL is idesofnovember

 **Minako & Kunzite, "You can trust me".**

There was smoke in her eyes, screams in her ears. But above it all, she heard his voice, calling her name.

"Venus!" He ran to her, his face filled with relief.

"Kunzite," she murmured, holding herself tall, tight. Wary.

He engulfed her in an embrace.

"You're alive," he said, "you're alive, thank the gods you are alive."

Venus searched his ice-blue eyes, which were alight with a mix of relief and frantic purpose. She shut her eyes against tears and wrapped her arms around him too in a tight hug.

"I don't know how to stop Beryl," he said, pulling away, hands grasping at her arms. "But I think I know a way to keep you and the princess safe."

"The princess?" Venus blinked. Stepped back.

"Yes, Princess Serenity. Where is she? You need to bring her here, I can protect her. Both of you. I know a way."

Venus' gaze turned sad.

"Venus," he grabbed her hand, looked at her imploringly with those eyes she loved, oh so much. "You can trust me," he said.

She nodded, pulled him into her arms. "Oh, Kunzite," she whispered into his ear.

And then he stumbled back, gaped at her, his hand fumbling over the hilt of the dagger she'd buried in his side.

"You witch," he growled, his eyes dark. "You will pay for this. Queen Beryl will destroy you all. Starting with that insipid, idiot princess of yours." Even injured, he swung the sword with amazing skill and strength, and Venus fell to her knees.

"I could _never_ trust you, Kunzite," she said, unsure if the salt in her mouth was blood or tears, "Not ever."

* * *

 **USAMAMO "Look at me - just breathe, okay?" "I can't breathe!"**

"Usako, are you alright?"

Usagi turned at his voice, her heart both fluttering in her chest and sinking like a stone. He was always the first person she wanted to see, but at this moment how could she face him?

"I can't breathe," she whispered to him, in a panic. Her fingers clawed uselessly at the high lace collar of the dress, which clutched her neck like a pearl-encrusted noose.

Mamoru curled his hand around hers and lowered it, "Look at me," he said. Usagi forced herself to meet his eyes, "Just breathe, okay?" He took a deep breath and she mimicked him a few times, breathing in and out, slowly, calmly. His eyes were intense and kind, looking at her like she was the only person in the world that mattered.

She would miss that.

"I don't love him," she said. The words stuck in throat, nearly choking her again.

"I don't think anyone out there is under the illusion that you do," he said softly, his thumbs running over her cheeks.

Usagi thought of her father, doomed to ruin and scandal if she followed what was in her heart.

Mamoru swam in her vision, she cursed the tears that blurred her last view of him. "I wish I was more selfish," she murmured.

Mamoru dropped his hands from her face, bent to retrieve the bouquet of flowers she'd dropped on floor. She took them reluctantly. She hated that he was the one who lowered the veil over her face as the music in the church began.

"I wish many things," he said. "None of which is for you to be any different than you are."

She tried to smile. She knew that was 'I love you'. She knew it was also 'good-bye'.

Despite herself, she turned before the anteroom doors closed, to catch his eye one last time through the gauzy haze of the veil. But he wasn't looking at her, his gaze on the ground, his hands clenched in fists.

#early 1900s AU?

* * *

 **King Endymion x Demande "Ever wonder if the world would be better off without you… ?"**

"Ever wonder if the world would be better off without you?" Demande was talking idly now, pacing slowly in front of what was left of the palace gates like a tiger stalking its prey.

Endymion was keenly aware of the total lack of company they had - the place was barren, littered with bodies. He felt like the only citizen of Crystal Tokyo left alive. Maybe he was.

"Am I to take it you have?" Endymion said. He just needed to keep Demande talking, keep him out of the palace - in case Small Lady hadn't made it to the time gate yet, in case Demande could still somehow disrupt the senshi holding the forcefield around the palace. "You wouldn't have brought it up, otherwise."

The prince laughed, a spine-chilling sound. "I've never. I am meant for great things, King." He smirked at the title. "King of what, exactly?" Pale eyes slid across the the landscape. "Not much left is there?"

"But no," Demande continued, still pacing. "I just know _you've_ thought that. Before. Multiple times."

Endymion made a show of sighing as if the topic bored him. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Shall I show you?" he grinned. And the third eye on his forehead winked open, its awful gaze pointed directly at the king. "Shall I show you, what horrors exist for the people you love, for the ones you strive to protect? Shall I show you, what you are utterly helpless against?"

Endymion couldn't shut his eyes, couldn't escape the images Demande sent to him. It was worse than the ruins, worse than the bodies, worse than the Black Moon Prince's own threats at attempted peace talks. It was Chibi-Usa screaming, it was the senshi being flayed open, it was Serenity screaming for mercy. It was devastating, soul-crushing, and enraging all at once.

Feeling anger like he'd never felt before, Endymion pulled out his sword and cut into Demande's stomach, as the other man laughed and laughed.

The third eye winked shut, and Endymion fell to his knees, his mouth filling with the metallic taste of blood. "How…?" His own sword sat before him, his own blood on the blade.

Demande smiled, his white clothing without a stain. "I, personally, think the world would much better off, without you."

* * *

 **UsaMamo with "Don't fucking touch me".**

The nightmares were getting worse, more violent, more insidious. Mamoru hardly slept anymore. He wasn't sure how much more he could take, before completely losing it.

It was worse when Usagi was around. If he so much as spoke to her that day, the punishment was fast, and brutal. A new gruesome detail added to the dream that night, a new image to haunt him whenever he saw her.

The only way to stop this torture was to make her leave him, for good. Even if it meant he spent his entire life in lonely, broken misery, at least he could finally rest at night, knowing she was safe. But nothing was working.

And being mean only hurt her. Telling her it was over did nothing, because the next time they were thrown together by fate or circumstance, her eyes would still look at him with the same hopeful look, the same loving forgiveness for everything he'd done, had continued to do.

So he had to do something drastic.

Well, he didn't have to _actually_ do it. He just had to make her _think_ he had.

Sleeping with another woman wasn't something unforgivable, especially considering they weren't, technically, together anymore.

But it was cruel.

And Mamoru knew Usagi's insecurities, her weaknesses, knew to exploit them. He wondered if he was truly evil, or at least not a very good person. Good people didn't do things like this. Not to people they loved the way he loved Usagi. But if the alternative was her dying…?

It was easy enough to stage, easy enough to let all the pieces fall together so she saw what she needed to see, and heard what she needed to hear.

And then she was standing in his apartment, shock on her face and hurt like he'd never, ever seen before.

And instantly he knew he'd made a mistake.

 _Take it back. Fix this._

"Usako-"

She stepped back from his reach, pale and dead-eyed. "Don't touch me," she said, quietly. "Don't fucking touch me."

He'd never heard her curse like that. Her eyes shifted to his, focused suddenly on his face. "Don't ever touch me again."

And she was gone, the door slammed and Mamoru was never haunted by the nightmares again.

But, he had failed the test.

* * *

 **"Don't go where I can't follow" UsaMamo**

Usagi woke up in confusion. Her whole body hurt, and her mouth felt like cotton. She went to sit up and startled as she realized Chibi-Usa was curled up to onto her right side, and Rei was flung over her left. A glance around the night-darkened room showed Makoto sprawled on the floor, and Ami curled in a nearby chair, both fast asleep.

When she stood and stumbled out into the hallway, she had to avoid stepping on Luna and Artemis, curled by the door of the bedroom like sentinels. Sleeping sentinels that is.

Usagi had figured out where she was - Mamoru's apartment- and the time, (the clock above the microwave in the kitchen informed her it was 3:27 in the morning), but she hadn't quite figured out what happened. The last thing she remembered was teleporting home from the asteroid, which must have taken the last of her energy.

"Mamo-chan?" Usagi whispered. Her fingers hovered over the light switch but didn't turn it on. She only saw the back of his head over the top of the couch in the living room, she wondered if he was sleeping.

She reached out to put a hand on his shoulder and jumped when he grabbed it, so tightly she couldn't feel her fingers. "Hey, you're awake," she said, lamely. "Are you okay?" He wouldn't let go of her hand, so she had to walk awkwardly around the couch with one arm stretched out.

Finally, she settled next to him, sitting on her knees. "Mamo-chan, I'm so sorry about Fiore. I'm so-" and then he was suddenly holding her, so she almost couldn't breathe. His head fell to her shoulder, and his whole body was trembling.

"Hey," she whispered, pushed a little on his shoulder, "look at me. Are you okay?"

She managed to cup her hand around his face, lift it so he was facing her. The look in his eyes made her heart nearly stop in fear. His gaze was vacant, lost, focused somewhere over her shoulder.

"Mamo-chan?" Usagi said, again, running a hand across his cheek.

"You left me," he whispered, his eyes still starring straight ahead, at nothing. The look was terrifying her. "You died."

"No," she said, shaking her head, "No, no, Mamo-chan, I'm here, I'm right here. I'm breathing, see? My heart is beating. I'm fine, I'm fine. I didn't leave you." She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Look at me," she said, pulling back for a second, trying to meet his eyes. "Look at _me_."

His eyes were still looking somewhere far away. "Don't go where I can't follow," she begged.

Slowly, he pulled his gaze back to her, and to her infinite relief, seemed to finally really _see_ her. "Usako."

Usagi smiled through her newly falling tears. "I'm here," she said.

He nodded, even managed a small smile for her. "Okay," he whispered. Usagi stayed up with him, running her fingers through his hair until he fell asleep on her shoulder, his arms still wrapped around her.

She never told him how the dead look in his eyes haunted her afterward, for years.

#post R-move

* * *

 **"It's all my fault" UsaMamo.**

Usagi was still in bed, looking pale and sad, dried tear tracks still on her cheeks.

Mamoru sat next to her, wishing he could take the grief from his wife's face, but it was impossible. His own heart was too heavy as it was. He could only take her hand.

"How's Chibi-Usa?" Usagi asked, her voice hoarse. "Is she doing okay without me?"

"Makoto is taking care of her," Mamoru said. "She misses her mommy of course, but she's fine. Still toddling everywhere, getting into trouble."

Usagi's eyes filled with tears, her lips trembling. "I'm glad we never told her she'd be getting a little brother or sister. She wouldn't understand." her voice cracked, " _I_ don't understand." Her hands went to her face, silent sobs shaking her shoulders. "I must have done something wrong. It's all my fault."

"It's _not_ ," he said, "Usako, look at me." She wouldn't meet his eyes until he gently cupped her chin and turned her face toward his. "These things happen. It was nothing you did. It's just… how the world is."

Her tears were still falling, heavy and silent. "I knew it was too good to be true," she said, quietly. "Only one child. That's what they told us. I don't know why I-"

"Having hope isn't a crime," Mamoru said, brushing her hair back from her face.  
He kissed her forehead, and she shut her eyes. "Now rest." He could only assume the pain would lessen by morning. But he knew this was something neither of them would ever truly be over.


	10. Chapter 10

These were word prompts

 **Mancation: maiming; mutilation**

He watches her fingers. They pull at the rice, fumble slightly, stretch and pat - a little too much, a little too little. She isn't so much making rice balls as mutilating rice and nori into unappetizing lumps that only suggest at the intended finished product.

He watches her lips, they twitch and open slightly with frustration when the pickled plum slips out of her grasp, when the food refuses to behave. She drags her teeth over her bottom lip in dejection or determination, he's not sure which. Absentmindedly, she goes to lick some salmon paste of her finger and rethinks just in time, wiping her hand on the more sanitary dishcloth instead.

He watches her knit eyebrows and her intense gaze, the tendrils of hair curling around her ear, her collarbone under the apron, the movement of her chest and shoulders as she breathes, cringes, sighs.

"Well," she says, finally putting the last squished mess of rice and soggy seaweed on the plate. Her cheeks are flush, her eyebrows and lips and eyes all working in tandem to create the most heartwrenchingly hopeful expression known to man. "Do they look okay?"

The very idea of onigiri has been maimed beyond all recognition. But Mamoru can't bring himself to care, pulling her into his lap despite her squeals of mock-protest. Her hands are still starchy-sticky from the rice and her mouth tastes like salted plum and it matters so little the things she can't do, because hands that routinely save the world need not worry about shaping rice. Her touch means so much more than that.

 **Quaeritate**

Quaeritate: to question; to inquire

Usagi can feel Mamoru's gaze and she isn't sure what to do about it. She wonders if she should turn a page in the manga she's holding, so it at least looks like she's reading it. She sneaks a glance to the counter where Mamoru had been chatting with Motoki just a moment before, and realize he's already left. Usagi is so busy trying to figure out if the feeling in her chest is relief or disappointment that she actually jumps at his "Hey, Odango atama" from behind her.

"What do you want?" she snaps, her eyes not leaving the page in front of her.

"I have a question."

Usagi sighs, turns around with what she hopes is a long-suffering air. "What?"

"How do you get your hair up like that?" he makes a twisting motion with his finger, gesturing toward his head. He's smirking but something makes Usagi think he might be half-serious.

As usual around him, she's flustered. As usual, she hates it. "That's for me to know and … and you never to find out!" Her voice is louder than she intends, her cheeks warmer than she wants. Mamoru's smirk dissolves into a genuine laugh, he reaches out like he intends to brush his hand across the knotted strands on her head, but seems to catch himself just in time.

"Touche, odango atama."

Usagi is already standing, gathering her things and making an excuse to leave. On the walk home, all she can think about is how she wishes she could go back in time, and answer his question with a wink and a poised response _: "A girl's gotta have her secrets, Mamoru."_

 **Mariturient**

Mariturient: eager to marry

It's Usagi who always talks about it, the plans tripping from her mouth in giggles and sighs. "When I marry Mamo-chan…" this dress, these plans, that type of cake, those songs.

And not just the wedding, but the marriage, too. It's in the forefront. "When I'm married to Mamo-chan…" I'll cook this, I'll change that, we'll do this, we'll go there.

It drives her friends crazy, it makes Chibi-Usa start an argument, Ami gives a side-eye, Rei and Minako exchange full-body eyerolls. Even patient Makoto raises her brows when Usagi enthusiastically bubbles about her (only semi realistic) dreams of marital bliss somehow based around baked goods.

"Does it bug you?" Ami asks Mamoru one day, when Usagi's left the room.

He doesn't look up from the workbook they're pouring over, "Nah, not really." Something in the almost-smile that flickers across his face makes sure Ami never sighs at Usagi's constant marriage talk again.

Because it's Mamoru who comes home to an empty apartment, it's Mamoru who sleeps alone, it's Mamoru who never really had a family of his own.

Usagi talks about it constantly, but Mamoru is the one counting down.


	11. Chapter 11

Notes:

This is just a random drabble barf, pls don't take it seriously.

"I'm heeeeerrreee," Usagi announced, after making a big show of unlocking Mamoru's door with her key and entering without the need for courtesies like knocking.

It had been three years since the last time the girls studied at Mamoru's place (and accidentally destroyed it in the process), and it'd taken just about that long to convince him to allow them back. Considering he spent one of those years dead (presumed to be studying abroad), and then another year _actually_ studying abroad, it wasn't that surprising it took that long for them all to gather back around his coffee table, books open, tea served, and air conditioning on.

"Where's Minako?" Usagi asked, shifting the pile of books over so she could settle next to Mamoru. She sounded slightly irked that her standing position as 'last one to arrive' had been so easily usurped.

"Oh, she said she'd be a little late," Rei answered without looking up, sliding a strand of hair behind her ear as she wrote something down in a notebook, "She's breaking up with her boyfriend on the way here."

"With Yuuki? Why?" Makoto sounded surprised.

"Failed the trap girl test," Rei said, absentmindedly erasing a figure she wrote down. She passed her notebook to Ami, "Does this look right?"

"Bummer, I thought he was a good guy," Makoto said, shaking her head with a tsking sound.

Mamoru looked confused. "What's the 'trap girl test'?" he asked, finger-quoting while he said the last three words.

"Oh, she uses her Sailor V disguise power to pretend to be some floozy that hits on the guys she's dating," Usagi explained. Her schoolbag remained closed and she was trying to see how long she could go before someone noticed and lectured her on how 'study groups were for studying', but so far the gossip about Minako had seemed to be distracting enough for her friends. "If they hit on her back, it's over."

"And they fall for that?" Mamoru asked, sounding incredulous.

"Don't look so surprised," Rei said to Mamoru, "she's done it to you a few times."

"What?!" he and Usagi cried together in equally shocked voices. Ami and Makoto looked up in curiosity.

Rei shrugged, "Don't worry, you must've passed, considering you are still," she waved her pen in Mamoru's general direction, "in one piece."

Just then there was a knock on the door and, since Usagi had left it unlocked, Minako breezed through, cheerfully. "Hey, all!" She settled down next to Rei, pulling out her books and papers out all over the table with a toss of impossibly thick blonde hair.

"Sorry, I'm late, break-ups _always_ take longer than I expect them to!"

"Heard he failed the big test. Are you okay?" Makoto asked, looking concerned, but Minako waved it off.

"I'm fine," she said. "I was going to end it anyway, he was way too needy. The trap girl thing was more just for, ya know. Fun." She frowned, "And for teaching him a lesson about two-timing that he hopefully carries with him. Save the next girl some trouble."

"Minako, you two-time constantly," Ami pointed out and Minako gave her a look.

"'Constantly' is a bit of an overstatement, jeeze," she countered. "Anyway that's different."

"So!" Minako continued, opening her book, "Ami, can you help me with that 'red-shift' thing in Astronomy and also, explain why Usagi hasn't stopped glaring at me since I walked in here?"

"Rei said you did that trap girl thing to Mamo-chan!" Usagi exploded.

Minako sighed and gave an exasperated look at the ceiling before leveling a 'thanks very much' look at Rei, who shrugged coolly.

"I didn't know it was this big 'secret'," Rei said.

"It was only a couple times," Minako said, turning to Mamoru.

"A _couple tim-_ " Mamoru said, then cut himself off, brows knitting as he fell deep in thought.

"Oh my god, do girls hit on you so much you are literally trying to figure _which times_ it was me?" Minako threw her hands up in the air.

Usagi glowered.

"No!," he said, running his hand through his hair. Then he paused. "I mean... not... really..."

"Ugh," Minako muttered, pulling her book toward her. "Just so you know, I suffered, too, okay? You were borderline _rude_ to me the first time," she lowered her voice and said, curtly, "' _Sorry, not interested_ ,'" in what was definitely meant to be an impression of how he was at the time. "Then, the second time you were utterly smashed coming out of a party and - well, let's just say there are some things I can't _un_ hear." She shuddered.

"What did you _say to her_?" Usagi demanded, looking at Mamoru angrily.

"Relax, Usagi, it was all about you," Minako said, rolling her eyes. "Did you know he super likes your hair?"

"Duh," she said.

Mamoru cringed, a faint blush on his cheeks. "I don't know, uh," he cleared his throat, "really remember this."

"Don't worry, it was all very sweet," she said. "Even if it was enlightening about you two in ways I, honestly, did not need to be enlightened."

Usagi gave Mamoru a strange look out of the corner of her eye. He shrugged helplessly, "I honestly don't know what I said!" He was still blushing a little.

"Look," Minako said, "let's just say he's completely head over toes for you-"

"Heels," Ami corrected, from where she was going over Rei's workbook with her. "The phrase is 'head over heels'."

"Also applicable!" Minako said, pointing a finger and Ami and winking. "But yes, anyway. No worries with this one," she jerked her head toward Mamoru. "He's solid. Just had to check, ya know?"

"Uh-huh," Usagi said, still looking annoyed.

"Anyway," Minako said, pointing to Usagi's unopened bag, "study groups are for studying! Open your books, Usagi, if you wanna keep up your B-average for high school graduation."

If possible, Usagi looked even _more_ betrayed as she sighed and pulled out her books.

"Maybe later I'll even tell you what he said," Minako said, wiggling her eyebrows and winking, until Usagi's face matched Mamoru's in a faint pink.

It would be another three, or maybe four years, before he'd allow the girls - or at least Minako - back into his apartment, Mamoru decided.


	12. Chapter 12

From a prompt on Tumblr for the quote: "I love you. I'm completely and utterly in love with you. Please don't get married."

* * *

Mamoru struggled to catch his breath as he ran down the hallway of the reception hall. He was exhausted and miserable, having hardly slept for the past few nights - his actions most likely more fueled by sleep deprivation and desperation than actual rational thought.

He'd known Usagi for years, ever since her crumbled test paper hit him in the face when she was in middle school. Seeing her and exchanging some teasing barbs had become part of his daily routine - and days he didn't run into her things felt a little duller, a little colder. He hadn't thought anything of it.

Until she came into the arcade one day a few months ago, babbling excitedly about her upcoming wedding.

And then it hit him like a ton of bricks.

While she giggled about dresses and flowers and cake to Motoki, he'd just stood there, wondering why it felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room.

When he realized a few days later, as he watched her walk away (his eyes had always trailed her until she was completely out of sight - why had he never wondered why?), that soon she'd be someone's wife (could you look at another man's wife the way he looked at Usagi? It was another realization that felt like a rush of cold water over his head.)

Finally, it'd all become too much – he couldn't let this go, not when it was so… well, it felt so… _dire._

Usagi blinked in surprise when he stumbled into the bride's dressing room (he'd at least had the fortitude to knock and make sure everyone was dressed at least). "Mamoru-san?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I love you," he managed to gasp out, "I'm completely and utterly in love with you. Please don't get married."

She was looking at him in wonder. "I'm not," she said, finally.

A giggle behind Usagi brought Mamoru back to reality, and he realized that the girl he'd confessed to was dressed in a light pink frock, and holding a small bouquet of daises – not really bridal attire.

The girl behind Usagi, however, was resplendent in a long white gown, large bouquet of roses and a long veil. She waved.

"Naru's getting married," Usagi said, nodding her head backwards toward her friend, but not taking her eyes off of Mamoru.

"Oh."

"I'm maid of honor," she explained, shrugging slightly. A blush had stained her cheeks and she was still looking at him in some sort of awe.

"Oh…" He felt for a moment like he might faint.

"Did you…," Usagi seemed unsure how to finish her sentence. "Did you mean that?"

"I… must've," he said, still trying to wrap his mind around what was happening.

The slow smile that spread across Usagi's face almost made the whole thing worth it.


	13. Chapter 14

_Prompt: How about the girls (or maybe Minako specifically) witnessing Usagi "kill" herself again (at the end of manga arc 1)_

Minako had nightmares about it before she even knew what nightmares were. Waking up in tears, crawling into her parents' bed.

"I had a scary dream. There was blood." A metal blade slicing through the soft flesh of a belly.

It's not her death. But it _feels_ like it.

* * *

There was a lot Minako had to learn about the moon kingdom, and it came in cryptic clues and riddles, Artemis wouldn't (or couldn't) ever sit down and explain the damn thing in straightforward, chronological terms.

But there was a princess. That much Minako knew. And with every mention of the princess, came that certainty and solid fact that came side by side with it: the princess died. _  
_

Whenever Artemis said 'the princess', Minako's memory inserted another word:

 _The_ dead _princess_

And then Minako met Usagi. Usagi of the sparkling eyes, "Wow, Sailor V!"

 _…the blade was stained such a dark red…_

Usagi with her hands around Minako's arm, "What a brave princess!"

 _…blood soaking through the white of her dress…_

Usagi, sitting in her average school-girl bedroom decorated with pink bunnies and photographs of her friends, looking at Minako with red-rimmed eyes. Wrapping her fists around uncontrollable waves of hair. "It won't stop growing…"

 _…her hair pooled around her lifeless body…_

The moon is airless but they can still breathe, somehow. Minako grasps the sword. Usagi grasps her hand.

 _… her throat burned with screaming her name…_

When it happens again, Minako's throat burns with screaming her name. Not Serenity, but Usagi.

 _USAGI_

 _NO_

It's not her death. But it feels like it.


	14. Chapter 15

_Prompt: Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion's rection when their daughter stopped ageing_

Neo-Queen Serenity hides her worry behind her ever-present serene expression, when outsiders such as diplomats and reporters speculate on her daughter's small stature, Serenity calmly thanks them for their concern, and states the Crystal Palace is aware and, at this time, unconcerned about the Princess, who is in perfect physical health.

It's only behind the thick privacy of the crystal walls that Sailor Mercury shrugs helplessly next to thrumming and beeping machines, her voice a hush and sympathetic lilt. "She's the first child with blood of both the earth and moon…"

There is no need to tell her, because of all people Serenity knows this, but Mercury says it anyway: "Lunar blood manifests itself in strange ways."

Serenity excuses herself for her chambers and locks eyes with her reflection in the mirror. The alabaster of her skin, the silver in her hair, the pigment that since drained from her sky-blue eyes, leaving them grey like the mist over a pond. No, Serenity didn't need to be told about lunar blood.

The Tokyo girl born to average parents, raised among the throng of humanity coursing through one of the largest cities on the planet … had she never really belonged? Even after the blood and sacrifice, the purification of the holy sword through flesh, bones burnt and reformed in the cauldron of death and rebirth, is she still the alienated princess from thousands of years ago, an uninvited stranger on a planet that she has no right to call home?

And now her precious daughter is suffering for it, unable to come into her birthright, growth halted by forces Serenity knows but does not understand. Held in place by the contradictory powers of two kingdoms that were never supposed to meet.

Later, Small Lady plays outside with Jupiter and Mars, the rare sound of her happy laughter drifts through the gardens to the balcony where the king and queen watch. The love for their daughter is a sweet ache, but an ache nonetheless.

Endymion puts his hand her shoulder, and Serenity wants to apologize, to tell her husband she understands now - what a mistake she made, continues to make, and would, given the chance, make again and again every single lifetime, every single time. But he kisses her forehead and the words stick in her throat, unable to be spoken, unable to be swallowed down.

In the setting sun, Small Lady is lit up like some sort of heavenly thing between an angel and an alien.


End file.
